They work tirelessly all day under the harsh rays of a blazing sun, the stench of death and destruction around them. They are a team of Jewish heroes who are working around the clock with one mission: the recovery of human bodies.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

(JTA) Norwegian rapper not charged with hate speech
A Norwegian rapper who cursed Jews while performing at an event in Oslo promoting multiculturalism will not be charged with hate speech, because his words may have been criticism of Israel, prosecutors said.

Did Israeli soldiers violate international law by deliberately targeting unarmed children, journalists, health workers, and people with disabilities during the past year of violence along the Israel-Gaza border?

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We are winging our way towards Human Rights Day (21 March), the first public holiday of the year, which coincides with Purim. I can’t help but wonder about our concept of human rights and what it means, not least of all, to our government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in parliament last week that South Africa intended to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Israel. The foreign affairs bureaucracy was working “feverishly” on the matter. “The decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel is informed precisely by the violation of the rights of Palestinians and we are therefore putting pressure on Israel. But at the same time, we are saying we are willing to play a role and ensure there is peace,” said Ramaphosa.

Undeterred, and in spite of the hate-filled disparagement that spewed forth when Shashi Naidoo uttered positive comments about Israel and Jews last year, Haafizah Bhamjee penned a reasoned and sensible article on Israel and the Palestinians in the SA Jewish Report of 22 February.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

One of the questions that haunts the story of Purim and moves silently through the lines of the Megillah is clear and chillingly simple: How could Jews have chosen to remain in Persian Shushan? It was so clearly an environment in which anti-Semitism was so prevalent that a genocide could be planned and almost implemented without comment by broader society.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

Low GI inspiration

Every day, I take my 14-year-old daughter to school, and on every school morning, we stop and buy coffee en-route. Two skinny flat whites.

This is a very precious and special ritual, and recently, we both admitted that it is often the highlight of our day.

The thought of that delicious hot coffee and that short drive to school together is what gets us out of bed so early. Because on that drive, we share very rare and precious bonding time. Luckily for us, her school is not very close, and our time together lasts about 15 minutes.

But the most special thing about it is that even though the drive is relatively short, it happens daily. On Thursday, she said, “Mom, we are so lucky that we are so close, I hope we always are.” Together, we hoped to have coffee together every single day for the rest of our lives, even for just 10 or 15 minutes, because it is this daily touch point that makes us so close.

“Because”, she explained, “it's not only the big things and the big events we share, it is knowing the small things, the daily grind, the seemingly mundane details about each other.”

I understand. It’s the consistency, it’s the regularity, it’s the “everydayness” of this coffee-drive we share that makes it so precious, that makes us love and enjoy it so much.

Often, I listen as she points things out to me with so much insight. She says that these 15 minutes every morning are far more valuable than if we met weekly for a big “special” date.

I began to think about other relationships in my life, how they would benefit so much from a daily touch point, a daily valuable quality moment or two. I think about Hashem, and why the Jewish people emphasise daily learning and daily prayers.

One of the questions we are asked when we reach the world to come is, “Did you set aside time for learning Torah?” Interestingly, the question is not how much time or how much learning, but whether there was definite time set aside.

And, our rabbis emphasise that time should be set aside daily for prayer and learning because it is this consistency, this regularity, this commitment, this reliable touch point that builds a relationship.

I call it “low GI” sustainable inspiration. Small healthy meals must happen often, consistently, and we should have slow-release energy three, four, or five times a day. So too should our prayers and learning be consistent with slow-release inspiration every day.

We learn Torah that can percolate in our minds and provide wisdom released slowly over time. We say Modeh Ani every morning, and The Shema every night. Maybe that’s how you build a relationship with G-d.

Just as we cannot eat a whole chocolate cake on our birthday, and hope it will sustain us for the year ahead and we will not need meals for the rest of the year, so we cannot hope that an annual visit to shul will provide inspiration for the whole year ahead.

In the “once-a-year quality time versus quantity time” debate, relationships require quantity as well as quality of time, built up over years that brings rich closeness. My daughter and I discussed this aspect as I dropped her outside her high school.

I had to shoo her out the car because she didn’t want to end our chat! In the end, she hopped out with all that caffeine pulsing through her bloodstream, and bounced off for the day.

She was a few minutes late, and I know we spend too much money on coffee. As I said, maybe I’m a really good mom, maybe I’m not!

Gina Goldstein is the wife of the chief rabbi of South Africa, and has an honours degree in Psychology. She has been speaking, teaching, writing, and working in the South African Jewish community for more than 20 years. Together with her husband, she co-founded The Shabbos Project, Sinai Indaba, and Generation Sinai.